Comedians Are In For It !

Kathy Griffin lost a lucrative gig and got fired for pulling a stunt with a severed head prop of Trump the Great.Clearly in bad taste,but hardly an invitation to gather the likes of Jihadi John.How quickly we forget that Dear Leader,a.k.a. POTUS ,announced when still a candidate,that should Hillary Clinton get into the White House ” those second amendment folks” might have a solution.He might be the driver of a clown car,but he is not a comedian.Bill Maher got himself into trouble with a quick and clever house n….r riposte that was actually funny but in bad taste and politically incorrect.But comedians have a right to spontaneity carrying with that spontaneity the risk of erring on the side of bad taste.An apology when this is identified should be enough! On the other hand there’s Bill Cosby a comedian from a different era,whose comedy was feel-good constructed with skilled psychiatric consultative help,often flying in the face of that advice for a Yuk but establishing a family feeling that the Huxtables were just black Brady Bunchers.That image may save him from the consequences of strictly unfunny behavior for which he is on trial.Pugnacious, uninformed,destructive leadership is one good reason why we all ” just can’t get along”.

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4 Comments

There is a jagge,d edge to humor which,I guess is the basis for comedy.This jagged edge can be cruel and so comedy depends on societal tolerance and the absence of a prevailing paranoid posture vis a vis one another.

Comedy provides the cushions in the bumpy journey of life. Isn’t a sense of humor one of the most precious qualities in relationships/interactions?

daedal2207: “… comedians have a right to spontaneity carrying with that spontaneity the risk of erring on the side of bad taste. An apology when this is identified should be enough!”

Yes, and it is. Bad taste is not necessarily malicious. Malicious rhetoric has a sadistically, violence-promoting, injurious characteristic. Subjective? Possibly … but, as Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said “I know when I see it.” Words have meaning. Once spoken, they have power. They reflect degrees of respect and tolerance. They can also easily reveal insecurities. If the message carries vindictiveness, it’ll find its way to action. That is predictable. Free speech remains essential, but its abuse seems to have sounded the alarm. When you have the likes of Ted Nugent taking notice and pledging to desist (https://www.yahoo.com/tv/ted-nugent-promises-stop-hateful-rhetoric-alexandria-shooting-205716922.html), has the pendulum started to swing back to the acknowledgment of consequences? Even Bill Maher issued an on-air invitation to Nugent for a “civilized” discussion forum. POTUS? No hope there. His words reflect the insecurity that is his core, and which he attempts to hide with hate. He’s incapable of Rodney King’s wise appeal, “can’t we just get along?” Thus far, he has proven that his words lacked vision or a road map to his purported goals. All show biz bluster. But, then, you can’t supplant knowledge with ignorance and claim to achieve. All you can do is lie about it. That too catches up. A comedian pointing out the obvious: https://youtu.be/9TbeXyAe-cY.

P. S. Dear Leader, nothing you say is in jest. I know comedians, and you’re no comedian!